Device for an automatic exchange of rollers in roller polishing machines and the like

ABSTRACT

A device for the automatic exchange of rollers in roller polishing machines and the like is characterized by a movable frame located preferably outside of the plane of the machines and having a gripping device movable upon a fixed track for gripping and raising rollers from a stack, inserting a roller in the holders of a roller polishing machine and also for carrying out a reverse procedure. There is also provided a guide and/or an arresting device for making the gripping device axially parallel to the polishing machine, particularly as far as holders or drivers for roller pins at the mandrel stock are concerned.

United States Patent Klein et al.

[54] DEVICE FOR AN AUTOMATIC EXCHANGE OF ROLLERS IN ROLLER POLISHINGMACHINES AND THE LIKE [72] Inventors: Ernst G. Klein, Siegen; ArturKlein,

Netphen, both of Germany [73] Assignee: H. A. Waldrich GmbH, Siegen,Germany [22] Filed: Apr. 24, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 31,682

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 24, 1969 Germany ..P 19 20804.9

[52] U.S.Cl ..51/215 CP,2l4/l BB [51] Int. Cl. ..B24b 47/20, B24b 5/ 10[58] FieldofSearch ..5l/lO3R,103WR,215R,215CP, 51/215 H, 289 R; 214/1BB, 1 ET, 1 P

[451 May 30, 1972 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,090,5025/1963 Gunzelmann ..214/] BB X 3,139,706 7/1964 3,487,959 l/19703,501,870 3/1970 Primary Examiner-Donald G. Kelly Attorney-Richards &Geier [5 7] ABSTRACT A device for the automatic exchange of rollers inroller polishing machines and the like is characterized by a movableframe located preferably outside of the plane of the machines and havinga gripping device movable upon a fixed track for gripping and raisingrollers from a stack, inserting a roller in the holders of a rollerpolishing machine and also for carrying out a reverse procedure. Thereis also provided a guide and/or an arresting device for making thegripping device axially parallel to the polishing machine, particularlyas far as holders or drivers for roller pins at the mandrel stock areconcerned.

7 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures Patented May 30, 1972 INVENTORS 5G, Klein MlA. Klein BY 0750mm Arrom'u'tis DEVICE FOR AN AUTOMATIC EXCHANGE OFROLLERS IN ROLLER POLISHING MACHINES AND THE LIKE This invention relatesto a device for the automatic roller exchange in roller polishingmachines. However, the device of the present invention is equally wellapplicable to other similar machines, such as roller lathes, roller pincutters and the like.

Up to now the exchange of rollers has taken place by the use of theusual cranes provided with carriages and winches. Such an exchange ofrollers which is carried out by hand has several drawbacks:

On the one hand special safety measures are necessary due to theconstruction of these cranes and the hanging of the rollers upon cranehooks with rope hoists and the resulting inaccurate guiding of therollers relatively to the polishing machines. Beside the person guidingthe crane, the polisher and another worker must take care of a carefuland precise handling of the roller during its movements. This workrequires practice and attention on the part of the workers. On the otherhand, the resulting drawback is that the operation can take place onlyvery slowly and thus consumes a great deal of time.

Since machine tools, such as roller polishing machines, are quiteexpensive, such unused time periods should be made as short as possible.A third drawback is that damages to the machines cannot be avoided evenif the greatest attention is exerted.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate these drawbacks.

Another object is to diminish the working time period, to provide aprecise guiding for the roller during its insertion and furthermore, toprovide a reversible movement of the roller into the holder of themachine and back again which is automatically operated to the greatestpossible extent.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent in thecourse of the following specification.

In the accomplishment of the objectives of the present invention, it wasfound desirable to provide a frame movable outside of the plane of themachine, and having a gripping device movable on fixed tracks relativelyto the frame and adapted to grip and raise the rollers from a stack, toinsert a roller into the holders of a roller polishing machine and alsoto carry out a reverse operation. There is also provided a guide and/orarresting device to arrange the gripping device in axial parallelrelationship relatively to the polishing machine, particularly as far asholders or drivers for roller pins at the mandrel stock are concerned.

An important improvement of the device of the present invention ascompared'to prior art devices consists in the provision of a grippingdevice movable on fixed tracks which eliminates the rope hoists of knowncarriages of cranes. It is advisable, although not absolutely necessary,that the frame be guided outside of the plane of the machine, sincecrane tracks extending over the machines, which are usual and can beused, disturb the machines which are being operated and which are notinvolved in the exchange; therefore, the usual procedure is to placethese tracks so high above these machines, that the disturbance islessened. However, then the paths become so long and the size of thegripping device guided on fixed tracks so great, that the grippingdevice must have particularly great rigidity or that special measuresmust be carried out to make secure the required precision of theexchange procedure which should be as automatic as possible.

Thus the preferred embodiment of the present invention which includes aframe movable outside of the plane of the machine involves a largevariety of possible arrangements, including the use of known freelymovable frames, such as lifting chargers, which, for example, can be somoved against stops of the machine that the roller can be inserted in avery short time and with precise guiding into the holders or can beremoved from the holders.

On the other hand, it is advisable to guide the frame upon tracks fixedin the ground and extending parallel to the axis of the machine,particularly when the greatest possible automatic operation is to beprovided. Then a special worker for the operation of the frame is notrequired any more.

In that case, but also if the exchange is not completely automatic andthe presence of a workman is necessary, it is advisable to so arrangethe setting devices, such as feelers, switch stops, etc. that thegripping device is precisely set upon the front surface of the rollerpin which is removed from a roller bearing or is raised from themachine. Corresponding setting devices are provided for the preciseplacing of the gripper upon the mandrel stock driver or the jig piecesor other suitable machine parts.

To avoid an arrangement wherein in case the exchange device of thepresent invention is used in conjunction with a large number of alinedmachines, the exchange device will return to the same roller storageplace after each exchange, it is advisable to provide upon the frame adevice receiving the finished roller removed from the machine and atleast one roller to be treated. This avoids substantial travel for theexchange device.

As already stated, the frame can be used with a larger number of alinedmachines. In that case it is advisable to construct the frame as aportal crane with four posts which can be moved parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the polishing machine and which carries a carriagemovable thereon at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the machine.The carriage contains a lifting device secured against turning at theend of which a gripping device is arranged having, for example, theshape of claws. The clear span of the posts in the longitudinaldirection must be greater than the longest length of the roller and,preferably, the clear span of the posts in the transverse direction mustbe greater than the width of the roller support. Here also deviationsare possible. Thus the portal crane which in any case must overlapjib-like the machines, can be made to engage the machines on both sidesif this is necessary, although then the construction is madeunnecessarily complicated. Furthermore it is not necessary to set thestands relatively to the roller carriers in the direction transverse tothe axis of the machine, in fact, other means can be provided, forexample, the portal crane can move close to the roller carrier uponframes which move transversely, or it can be moved upon correspondingtransverse tracks by angularly adjustable guide wheels or by a secondset of transverse wheels. It is advisable in this portal craneconstruction to provide the device receiving the finished roller and therollers to be treated between the two stands directed toward the machineand, preferably, to place it so deeply that the removed rollers arelocated at only a small distance from the floor, so that the rollerlocated in the machine does not have to be raised, or must be raisedonly to a small extent in order to be moved over the removed rollers.

A construction which is basically different from the portal craneembodiment of the exchange device of the present invention, comprises aframe provided for each individual polishing machine and movable atright angles to the longitudinal axis of the machine, particularly uponground tracks.

This construction is particularly simple, but it requires a rollercarrier for each machine which can be supplied by a usual crane. Thissimple construction also fully provides all the advantages attained bythe present invention.

In this case a particularly simple and safe gripping device can beprovided by the use of two swinging arms engaging the roller pivots frombelow which obviously must be adjustable as far as their distance fromeach other is concerned to correspond to the length of the roller. Inthat case it is advisable to make the arm carrying the testing andfeeling devices so that it cannot be shifted in the direction of itsswinging axis, so that only the other arm is adjustable.

The described embodiments can be provided with further improvementswithin the scope of the present invention. Thus preselection systems andsequence switches can be provided so that the entire exchange programwill take place when a button is pressed by the operator of thepolishing machine.

The invention will appear more clearly from the following detaileddescription when taken in connection with the accompanying drawingsshowing by way of example only, preferred embodiments of the inventiveidea.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top view of a group of roller polishingmachines provided with a roller exchange device of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a side view on a larger scale of one of the polishing machinesand the device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the polishing machine shown in FIG. 2 with theexchange device.

Roller polishing machines 5 shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 include a tool bed6 with steady rests 7 receiving the rollers 8, a mandrel stock 9 and atailstock 10 as well as a bed 11 for the grinding support 12. Theseparts do not belong to the present invention.

In accordance with the present invention tracks 13 embedded in theground are provided in front of the three polishing machines shown inFIG. 1; they are used for a portal crane 14 consisting of two frontstands 15, two rear stands 16, a track 17 extending above and beyond thefront stands and up to the rear stands and a crane carriage 18. Inaccordance with the present invention the crane carriage contains only agripping device movable in the direction of the double arrow 19 andconsisting of two gripping arms 20 and two gripping pincers 21 carriedby the lower ends of the arms. As best shown in FIG. 3 the pincers 21engage around the pins 8a of the rollers 8. The front stands 15 are madeparticularly wide and are provided with brackets 22 which have space fora roller 23 which is to be treated and also a space 24 for a roller 8which has been polished. As shown in FIG. 2 the roller 8 located in themachine must be raised only until the roller pins are freed from thecollar plates and then it can be actually moved over the untreatedroller 23 into the position 24. Then the untreated roller 23 is graspedand moved into the machine.

As shown in FIG. 1 the operative distance 26 between the stands isgreater than the greatest length of the rollers. As shown in FIG. 2 theoperative distance in the transverse direction is greater than theroller stack 27 which is shown in its entirety on the right hand side ofFIG. 1.

During the operation of the device a roller is removed from the stackand moved into a holder. However, a treated roller can be also movedfrom the holder into a stack. Any suitable means (not shown) can be usedfor adjusting the gripping device relatively to the rollers and theholders for the rollers. As best shown in FIG. 2, the gripping devicecan easily remove a roller from the stack 27 and place it upon thebrackets 22 in the position of the roller 23. Any suitable means, suchas another crane (not shown) can be used for removing the finishedrollers. The gripping device is movable on tracks 17 to facilitate thetransportation of the rollers. Usually a separate gripping device isprovided for each station.

We claim:

1. A device for the automatic exchange of rollers in roller polishingmachines and the like having holders for rollers to be treated and aroller stack, said device comprising a movable frame, tracks carried bysaid frame, a gripping device movable upon said tracks and having meansraising rollers from said stack and placing them into said holders andalso removing rollers from holders, and a track for said movable frame,the last-mentioned track maintaining said gripping device axiallyparallel to the machine.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the lastmentioned trackis located outside of the machine and is fixed upon the ground parallelto the axis of the machine.

3. A device in accordance with claim 1, comprising means carried by saidframe for receiving a polished roller and at least one roller which isto be polished.

4. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein a plurality of rollerpolishing machines extend in alinement, said frame being movableparallel to the longitudinal axis of the machines and having fourstands, said gripping device comprising a crane carriage movableperpendicularly to said longitudinal axis, pincer-like gripping arms andmeans securing said gripping arms against turning, the distance of saidstands from each other in the longitudinal direction being greater thanthe length of the rollers.

5. A device in accordance with claim 4, comprising means located betweenthe stands facing the machine for receiving the rollers.

6. A device in accordance with claim 4, comprising separate frame tracksextending perpendicularly to each machine.

7. A device in accordance with claim 6, wherein said gripping arms areshaped to engage rollers from below.

1. A device for the automatic exchange of rollers in roller polishingmachines and the like having holders for rollers to be treated and aroller stack, said device comprising a movable frame, tracks carried bysaid frame, a gripping device movable upon said tracks and having meansraising rollers from said stack and placing them into said holders andalso removing rollers from holders, and a track for said movable frame,the last-mentioned track maintaining said gripping device axiallyparallel to the machine.
 2. A device in accordance with claim 1, whereinthe last-mentioned track is located outside of the machine and is fixedupon the ground parallel to the axis of the machine.
 3. A device inaccordance with claim 1, comprising means carried by said frame forreceiving a polished roller and at least one roller which is to bepolished.
 4. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein a plurality ofroller polishing machines extend in alinement, said frame being movableparallel to the longitudinal axis of the machines and having fourstands, said gripping device comprising a crane carriage movableperpendicularly to said longitudinal axis, pincer-like gripping arms andmeans securing said gripping arms against turning, the distance of saidstands from each other in the longitudinal direction being greater thanthe length of the rollers.
 5. A device in accordance with claim 4,comprising means located between the stands facing the machine forreceiving the rollers.
 6. A device in accordance with claim 4,comprising separate frame tracks extending perpendicularly to eachmachine.
 7. A device in accordance with claim 6, wherein said grippingarms are shaped to engage rollers from below.